5 Scary Side Effects Of Having Excess Body Fat!

If you are overweight, obese or you have a lot of belly fat then you need to lose the excess fat if you want to stay healthy!

 Having excess body fat affects a lot more than your appearance or weight – it actually increases your risks of having to deal with major health problems as you grow older.

A man that is obese or overweight is more likely to have strokes, heart diseases, depression, diabetes, gout, gallstones and even cancer.

Luckily for you, it is very easy for you to reduce your risks of developing some of these health issues – all you need to do is to lose your excess body fat and maintain a healthy body weight thereafter (click here for a fat loss program that can help you do that with ease).

Here are 5 of the scary side effects that you may have to deal with if you have excess body fat:

Scary Side Effect #1 – Depression

This case is similar to the question of “which came first, the egg or the chicken?”

Does a man gain weight because he is depressed or does he become depressed because he is obese or overweight?

Some researchers reviewed the results of 15 studies and found out evidence that suggests both scenarios are possibly true. 

In 2010, the Archives of General Psychiatry published the results of a research study that discovered that overtime men who are obese have a much higher risk (55% more) of developing depression than men of normal weight.

Here are a few reasons why your excess body fat could push you into depression:

·        Obesity and depression seem to be linked to adjustments in the brain’s function and chemistry as a reaction to stress.

·        There might also be psychological factors that add to it. As you already know, most people equate being lean and fit with being physically attractive and being overweight or obese can lower a man’s self-esteem, a known cause for depression.

·        Abnormal eating habits and eating disorders, in addition to the physical discomfort that you may experience if you are obese could cause depression. 

The same study also revealed that depressed men are 58% more at risk of becoming obese than normal men – so it goes both ways.

Scary Side Effect #2 – Stroke And Heart Disease

I am sure you already know about this dangerous and scary side effect of carrying excess body fat.

The common problems that so many overweight and obese men deal with such as unhealthy cholesterol levels, hypertension (high blood pressure) and plaque build-up inside the arteries all tend to occur at the same time.

All these can result in simultaneous health problems – I am referring to stroke and heart disease.

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is 6 times more prevalent in men who are obese (or overweight) than in men who are lean!

The American Heart Association states that having 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of excess body fat increases systolic blood pressure (i.e. the first number in your blood pressure reading) by at least 3 millimetres of mercury (mm Hg) and also increase diastolic blood pressure (i.e. the second number in your blood pressure reading) by at least 2.3 mm Hg – this translates to a 24% increase in your chances of getting stroke!

A research study published by the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2007 scrutinized the link between body weight and heart diseases by examining the results from 21 different research studies that involved over 30,000 participants.

The results of the study concluded that:

·        If you are overweight, your risk of heart disease increases by 32%

·        While being obese increases your risk of heart disease by as much as 81%

The researchers also stated that even though the negative side effects of being overweight on your cholesterol levels and blood pressure could be responsible for an increase of 45% in your risk of heart disease, even your protruding potbelly can increase your likelihood of getting heart disease apart from those other well-known factors.

And according to a 2010 report published in the journal Stroke, the risk of getting a stroke is 22% higher in overweight men than lean men. And for obese men, the risk of getting a stroke is as high as 64% when compared to lean men.

Scary Side Effect #3 – Type 2 Diabetes

Do you know that 90% of men with type 2 diabetes are either obese or overweight?

 Since being overweight or obese is so strongly connected to type 2 diabetes, medical researchers in the 1970s invented the word “diabesity” to explain this health problem.

From 1996 to 2006, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes increased sharply by 65% in the U.S!

The trademark of type 2 diabetes is high blood sugar levels and it is also one of the characteristics of metabolic syndrome.

If you don’t treat and control type 2 diabetes properly it can cause a lot of serious health problems like: blindness, kidney failure, leg or foot amputations.

It may shock you that diabetes is actually the 7^th leading cause of death here in the United States.

Metabolic Syndrome – How Your Excess Body Fat Causes It!

I just made mention of metabolic syndrome and in case you were wondering – it is a group of conditions that happen together. Metabolic syndrome increases your risk of diabetes, stroke and heart disease.

One major characteristic of it is excess belly fat and if you have that, then it is also likely that you have other features.

You are likely to have metabolic syndrome if you have at least three of the following conditions:

·        Big belly: If your waist circumference is more than 40 inches

·        Low HDL Level: If your HDL “good” cholesterol level is below 40 mg/dL

·        High Triglycerides Level: if your fasting blood triglyceride level is higher than 149 milligrams/decilitre (mg/dL)

·        High Blood Pressure: If your systolic blood pressure (the first number in your blood pressure reading ) is higher than 129 mm HG or your diastolic (the second or lower number in your blood pressure reading) is higher than 84 mm HG

·        High Blood Sugar: If your fasting blood sugar level is higher than 99 mg/dL.

Asides for the use of drugs, one effective way to deal with metabolic syndrome is to lose your excess body fat and stay lean and fit, while at the same time following a healthy calorie-controlled balance diet.

Scary Side Effect #4 – Cancer

There are some health experts that are of the opinion that obesity is actually the second leading cause of cancer related deaths right after cigarette smoking which is number 1.

 The New England Journal of Medicine published a research study carried out by the American Cancer Society which showed a direct link between excess body fat and different types of cancer. 

The study tracked over 900,000 individuals for 16 years. Here are some of the findings of the study:

·        Among men ages 50 and older, obesity and being overweight may account for 14% of all cancer related deaths.

·        A higher BMI was linked with an increased risk of dying from cancer of the kidney, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, rectum or colon.

·        Excess body fat also increase your risks of getting prostate or stomach cancer.

In case you think the American Cancer Society research study was a fluke, another article published in 2008 by The Lancet also came to the same set of conclusions.

Obese men usually do not detect the signs early enough because screening tests may seem like too much of a hassle for them.

For example, screening tests like prostate examination is more difficult if a man is overweight or obese, especially if he has lot of fat around his buttocks, hips or thighs.

Scary Side Effect #5 – Excess Body Fat Shortens Your Lifespan!

Like Brian Tracy said in one of his books, make it one of your top priorities in life to live as healthy and as long as you can! This means your excess body fat has to go.

 By being obese or overweight it makes moving around a constant problem for you. 

For example, when you compare men that are of a healthy body weight with overweight or obese men, you would see how excess body fat makes it difficult to walk briskly for just 500 metres, lift an object of 5 kilograms (11 pounds) or get up from an armless chair.

Since excess body fat plays a big role in the occurrence of a lot of diseases, remaining overweight or obese can reduce how long you have to live.

A research study published in the New England Journal of Medicine tracked more than 500,000 people between the ages of 50 and 71 years for 10 years and discovered that there is an increase of 20% to 40% in the death rates of individuals that were overweight at middle age. While among the obese folks, the death rate was much higher... as much as 3 times higher than the overweight people!

The same journal (New England Journal of Medicine) also published a study in 2010 that reviewed the findings of 19 different research studies that tracked a total of 1.5 million adults between the ages of 19 and 84 years for close to 10 years. 

The researchers of the study found out that the more body fat that a person has the higher his risk of death increases. For people that are mildly obese, it is 44% higher, while for people that have a body mass index (BMI) of above 40, the risk of death increases by a whopping 250%!

Now that you are aware of these 5 scary side effects of carrying excess body fat, your inner lazy self might say “since these side effects are not 100% certain, why should I bother to lose weight?”...

Well, as a health and fitness fanatic I say “you have only one life to live – make the best of it!” 

Being overweight or obese reduces the quality of your life!

Being fat makes you unattractive... why would you choose being unattractive over being attractive?

Even if you have the typical potbelly that most middle age men have, your health and the quality of your life improves tremendously when you lose your excess body fat and become lean.

You NEED to aspire to be your healthiest and fittest self possible so that you can live your life to the fullest... and enjoy the gift of life while you still can.

Just because obesity and being overweight seems to be the norm in the USA and other western countries does not mean that it is okay to be fat, overweight or obese!

Heck... our ancestors were lean, mean and rugged! 

And they had to be because of the dangers they faced at that time... but here we are thousands of years later where most of us men are “couch potatoes” who cannot even run up to 500 metres without gasping for air as if we want to die...

I implore you to make the decision now and begin your fat loss journey...

Becoming a lean and fit man is not rocket science and neither is maintaining a healthy body weight a difficult task... 

There are so many men that are over the age of 40 years that have a body physique that would make ladies in their 20s drool with lust and admiration.

So, if these men can achieve and maintain a sexy and attractive body physique even though they are above the age of 40 years so can you!